Alaskan Winter Ale

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: Old Ale
Juneau, Alaska USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter

12 oz twist-off. It pours a clear orangeish amber with a tightly foamed creamy looking off-white head. It sticks for a good while. The smell is interesting. Definitely spruced up. There is also this taffy like smell. The flavor isn’t that great imo. It is just like the most basic golden ale you could imagine. Slightly buttery with a hint of spruce.

Pours a clear copper orange color with a thin white head and good lacing. Aroma is bmc with a hint of spices. The taste is actually pretty decent, a little spicy from the hops and and a typical christmas beer taste. Overall its a little thin and watery, there’s no malty backbone here. Just ok.

Serving glass: Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Appearance: Clear burnished gold (much lighter than expected) with little head and next to no lacing. Aroma: Very fruity, with caramel and cherry. Don’t detect any hops or spruce tips, for that matter. Taste: Aahh, very sweet! Cherry, caramel and dark fruits run amok. There is some very light English-style hops and pine (or make that spruce) on the finish. Palate: Medium bodied with a strange spritzy carbonation. No dryness on the finish whatsoever. Overall: I really don’t understand why they made this so damn sweet. Should have finished drier or added noticeable hops or maybe actually made something noteworthy with those spruce tips. I am starting to feel that the 12 ounce offerings from Alaskan are just not worth my time or money anymore.

Nothing of any interest here. Aroma is almost non-existent, flavor is basic and unexciting in every way. Thin head, dark beer. Pass.

Pour is dark gold/copper/amber depending on light. Thick tight creamy head. aroma is fruity, herbal, some caramel and toasted maltiness in there too. Flavour is caramel maltiness, medium sweet fruitiness, herbal, I can identify what I believe to be the spruce flavour. Balancing hop flavour is herbal again. A little light in the body but pleasant over all.

Bottle. Light orange pour, little carbonation and a not much of an aroma to speak of (good or bad). Flavor is light and surprisingly artificially fruity, very thin on the body and a little orange marmalde and hops on the finish. Not what I expected, but decent.

Pours to a vibrant golden body with no carbonation but a nice white head. The aroma is very much Saaz but faded quickly. It doesn’t smell bad, just after awhile, it doesn’t really smell. There’s notes of spruce in there, but predominately a nice crisp Saaz. Ok, that’s a very unexpected flavor. It’s like green tea, flowers, and grape jelly. There’s also a deep rounded malt in there. Very well balanced malt profile. Kinda like caramelized bread dough with light vanilla. This was a very unique beer and very unexpected. If I’m ever looking for something distinct to fill my belly, this would be a good alternative to other beer. Smooth palate.

Pours deep amber with a light tan head. Detected spruce and wheat which was nice. Had a syrup mouthfeel. Not the best beer I’ve ever had but one of the better brews from the Alaskan brewery.